Popularity Does not Always Make a Good Leader

In almost every group, organization, or team I've been a part of the leader was almost always the most popular one. If it come down to a vote then the popular one receives the most votes. If it is appointed by a coach or other similar position based upon chemistry with others, it is the most popular one that wins. Popularity, however, is not what makes a leader great. Sure, charisma is always a plus when talking about a leader, but there is a huge difference between charisma due to influence and popularity, and being ''popular'' because you're the loudest one. I am a member of a group where the President does not do a good job. He had two older brothers who both were in this group before and they were presidents, so he felt that that qualified him for this position. He doesn't represent the group well and he doesn't know how he impacts others. During meetings if you pay attention to him he shows sign of pour non-verbal communication. He will slouch in his chair, have his arms crossed, not look at you when you are speaking, or simply interrupt you when you are. There are two reasons why he won the election. First and foremost, nobody else ran against him. Secondly, and in my opinion the reason he would have won even if he had competition, was because everybody voting jumped on his bandwagon. He did what all good politicians do and threw up some red harrings about all the good stuff he wanted to do and change, even though he was part of those problems. I feel that he could benefit greatly from taking Com 320.

Jason Miller

Surprising Uses of Crisis Management

This past weekend seems to have decided that it wanted to put to use what crisis management I have experienced over the past 2 weeks or however long ago the speech on Japan was. Without going in to too many details on topic that I have no right to talk about, there were 3 events that happened between Thursday, and today. The one that affected my sleep the least was the death of my cousin and close friend, if that puts in to perspective how difficult the other two were.  I also feel as though I have to a degree let this group down, and I apologize for that. I missed both the meeting on Friday, as well as the one as 2 pm today due to these events. Although I was able to get the bare minimum of my part done for both this project as well as in the homework/projects for other classes, I did not give my full effort towards it.

               

                After thinking it over though, I feel as though I did make a mistake. I knew the death of my cousin was coming, as he had been given weeks to live after recently being diagnosed with cancer which had fully spread. I did not however, prepare for the worst case scenario of such an early passing and while I regret it, I have come to terms with it. Luckily I was able to say my goodbyes to him the last time I saw him, knowing that it would likely be just that, the last time. The other situations, while they were harder to prepare for. I feel as though I could have handled them in such a way, that I could have given my fullest effort towards the group.

                All in all, after thinking things through for the day, and eventually getting over my own bad mood. I realized that I had failed to comprehend just how many different ways that crisis management can come in to play. This may seem like the tired ramblings of someone who is posting their blog far too late, but despite how miserable the weekend was. I learned something that I will never forget.

-John Heritage

Role Call....

In a group, it is so important to make sure that the role of each person is well known and understood by other group members. Earlier in the semester, we learned about the different types of ways to run a group. The first is the democratic group set up. This is where the respective leader makes decisions in the group based on voting and a majority wins rule. This is the group technique that I like the most. It has some balance and structure. It may not be the best if you are in the minority vote but the decision is easy to make if the majority of the people in the group are happy. Another way is the laissez-faire which is a concept meaning "let it be" or more of a "hands off" policy. In this group organization, the leader does not guide the group in the decision making process. This can cause confusion with in the group members when there is no mediator between what differences the members can have. This can also happen when no one in the group wants to step up and make a decision. The last way a group can form is the authoritarian style. When this type of group forms, one person has sole control of the decisions the group makes. This is not a pleasant group to be in if you are more of a independent free-thinker. I think that this was well illustrated in this clip from one of my favorite shows, The Office. This small group, the Christmas Party Committee. In this clip, the new girl, Karen obviously doesn't know the nature of the group she was trying to be apart of.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/4833/the-office-christmas-party-committee

Enjoy!
Dayna Appiah :)

And the greatest motive for obedience is...

"The greatest motive for obedience is love resulting from gratitude" -Dan DeHaan

Every other motive to obey is second-place and second-rate to that of love. If followers obey their leader out of fear, force, or selfish reward, there is something missing in the relationship. This kind of relationship is contingent on the idea behind social exchange theory: if there is nothing better offered, then the followers will stay. However, the moment a better opportunity presents itself, obedience is lost. To the followers, they become most concerned with what they gain of this leader-follower relationship.

Now, let's turn the tables and flip the room upside down. If the followers know they are loved, things change. Let me use an example: you are stuck in your home that is on fire, you're trapped in your bedroom, smoke is rising, and hope for making it out is fading. As you are going through final thoughts on life, a firefighter busts through the window. He scoops you up and takes you to safety. You find out he saved the rest of your family as well. Now how do you treat such a person? I doubt you're going to spit in his face. Rather, you're going to be asking him how you can repay him, even if it seems you never could pay back such a selfless act of love. And this is the key: your overflowing gratefulness for his display of love motivates you to ask him how you can repay.

In the same way, as a leader, show your love and appreciation for your followers, and you will be a successful leader. That is, followers are actually willing to follow. The success is not a direct result of the leader's work, but it originates from the environment he or she creates for work to be done. A leader's care for his or her followers translates into an environment of thankful and willing followers, thereby creating a successful work environment. Now the paradigm is shifted: the followers became most concerned with obeying their leader out of thankfulness. No longer is it a pursuit of self-interest but rather one of group-interest.

From a leader's perspective, that is a not a self-gaining love. Insincere love can always be detected. Dan DeHaan also said, "All true love involves sacrifice." Thus, a leader must sacrifice to show he or she really cares. Followers are responsive when they know their leader really loves them: it shows them this is a leader of worthy character, a leader that is worthy to be followed.

Mr. Brandon Heath puts it well: "Love never fails"

And I'd like to leave you with a question. It might seem like an odd one but it's a thinker: Would you be more willing to follow your boss if he washed your feet?

With joy,
Andrew Battiato

The Show Goes On.....

Last week, I blogged about the differences with working with my Japan crisis group and this group, the Faithful Hodgepodge. That experience not only taught me about how to work with different people but what it means to work under pressure. When working under pressure there is no procrastination allowed, you have to do what you have to do. And I am a pretty bad procrastinator. But working with a group of people who are hopefully more motivated than I am helped me to see how it is like to work efficiently and under a deadline. I really think that I do work better under pressure. Working with the other guys was very efficient, we pretty much just sat down in front of the computer and got our presentation done in about an hour or two. I was surprised! But thinking about that, is it more efficient to work under pressure with people you don't know or with people you do know? For me, probably with people I do know. But the reason that I bring that up is because the advantage to having a successful presentation on Family Mart was that we were all business and were concerned with getting the job done. If it was with a group of people that I was a little more familiar with, like Faithful Hodgepodge, I would have been less focused and more willing to chat and waste time. And if the group were to be a group of my close friends that I love, love, love and see every day, forget it! No work done, we would have just talked. So I really appreciated the opportunity to work with different people, it really showed me the ways that we as a group can be more efficient but it also showed me the benefits of working with people you know and like. :)

-Dayna

A group does not define a man, but a man can define a group

With our latest presentations fresh in my mind, it has made me analyze that group, and other  groups I have been a part of. For me this group presentation was extra strange; I did not know about these temporary groups until Sunday because I missed class on the previous Friday. I met with the Faithful Hodgepodge at 1:30 on Sunday, and they told me how we were put into new groups. I got back to my room and started working on a project at 3:00, and at 3:15 a member of my temporary group called me and told me they were my group and they were meeting at that moment in Hick's. I ran over to Hick's and found out what part of it was mine and went back to my house and quickly threw together what I would present. To be completely honest I put no thought or effort into my part; I had projects and papers to worry about.

As a whole I'm sure our groups presentation felt like it was thrown together and didn't have much thought put into it; because that was the case. You might look at us and think that we're terrible students becuase of this but I know that's not the case; we can't be defined by that group presentation.

Just as we couldn't be defined by that group, I'm tired of people defining me by other groups I'm in. The most obvious definition that I have been labeled with is: Band Geek. For some reason, kids that are not in band, have a problem with kids that are in band, and make it well known. In junior high I played sports and was friends with all of the athletes, but as soon as I did not have time for sports in high school, those very same friends would make fun of me for being in band. I thought this childish acts would end come college but I was wrong. I rushed cooperative houses so I could live at Fairway which is the Christian guys' house. However upon rushing the system, I felt that I would be happier living at Marwood. There are many reasons, but that is for another story. I am a devout Christian and attend Church and other Church gatherings regularly. However, since I chose to live in a secular house over Fairway, I know people perceive me differently than had I lived at Fairway. So I beg everyone to please let each person define themselves, instead of letting the people are them make that definition.

-Jason Miller

Group knowledge

This week gave me quite a bit to think about in terms of the many different types of groups that we could be placed in. It also dawned on me about how much of a help having members come from varying backgrounds can help. I’ll focus for the most part on the speech that the Japan Airlines group gave. Throughout the presentation I would be lying if I said I was doing anything but cringing on the inside. When they said that they were going to lower stock prices on purpose in order to produce more revenue, it brought to mind the fact that they did not understand how stocks works. For example, there is not a continual supply of stocks that go on to the market, so lowering the price would not help produce revenue unless the stocks were sold by executives and then given to the company. Also, the fact that lowering the stocks could have drastically poor results when weighed against the opposing side, made me feel that it was not worth it. I feel as though it became even more drastically apparent that no one with a strong background in a business major was within their group, when someone in the class brought up just-in-time production. Their answer seemed incredibly vague and there was not much they could do in order to answer it properly. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I think they did a fantastic job as a whole. However, it simply became apparent when a key component in their knowledge of how a company may operate, or how the stock market works. To be honest, I wanted to ask those same questions myself but I decided that it would only put them in an unfavorable position and instead asked about how they would handle customer satisfaction when it came to guests who needed to return home with only 1 of their bags. Looking back on it, I wish I would have placed those questions myself, or even added on to them. I feel as though I would want others to do the same, even if it was embarrassing at the time that I was not entirely confident on the topic. It would point out my flaws to me and I would be able to improve upon them.

 

Back to the main point however, it simply showed me how important creating a proper group can be. Especially in times of crises when you never know what sort of situation you may end up facing.

John Heritage

Under pressure

This crisis situation was a good project. That kind of tension was definitely new to me. I came to understand and learn some of the realities of an under-pressure, last-minute situation; however, what it did most was give me a foretaste. A foretaste of what my--rather our-- future will look like.

I had an epiphany type moment: a day after giving our group presentation, I was flipping through world news. I read about the attacks in Libya and the tsunami in Japan and within minutes my head started whirling. It really hit me: our world is hitting the breaking point of meltdown. Just like one of those brainstorming exercises, my brain started to connect one event to the other: the US economy crisis, the nearing worldwide oil shortages, the exponentially increasing worldwide population paired with decreasing resources, the lack of clean air and water, the divorce rate in the US, an unsustainable increased standard of living, the barrage of natural disasters, the wars scattered about the world, the greed and selfishness that is becoming the backbone of America, and the list goes on. 

I was simply overwhelmed with these thoughts. I could easily pull the "I don't mean to scare anyone" card, but I think we have this tendency to pacify truth for the sake of good feeling- we are possibly afraid of what truth entails. Thus I believe this is as real and frightening as it sounds and should be addressed with concern. I know truth for the US and those living in it--meaning all of us-- is that we will have to face drastic changes, and time is not waiting up on us. Change is happening fast. Our country is facing an inevitable crisis, and if we don't proactively respond to it, change will be too swift, too powerful for us to adequately react to it. So the question is: how are we preparing in the here and now?

-Andrew Battiato